The Wilderness Society
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Australia's Faunal Extinction Crisis Senate Inquiry Submission: The Wilderness Society Summary Our magnificent biodiversity and native animals are unique in the world, and have strong cultural and social value to Australians of all backgrounds. Australians depend on thriving ecosystems for their well-being and prosperity, and extinction fundamentally threatens the healthy functioning of those ecosystems. Australia has one of the world’s worst records for extinction and protection of animal species. Australia is ranked first in the world for mammal extinctions, second in the world for ongoing biodiversity loss, and the pace of our extinction crisis is quickening, with the extinction rate likely to double in the next 20 years. Australia has significant international obligations to prevent the extinction of Australia’s animal species. We are also morally, ethically, intergenerationally and practically obliged to end our extinction crisis. However, systemic failures in current Commonwealth environment laws and protections for faunal species ensures we cannot meet those obligations. Under these laws, we have no enforceable mechanisms to end threats to animals and their habitat. Existing protection mechanisms like recovery plans and critical habitat listings are out of date, not implemented and not funded, if they exist at all. The National Reserve System remains important but offers minimal protection where our wildlife is most under threat from human activity. Most worryingly, we have so little data that we do not know the current status and trend of most Australian species, and monitoring of recovery actions is largely non-existent. Australia needs to act quickly to stem the tide of extinction. In the short term, Australia must implement and fully fund existing protection mechanisms and stop threats to wildlife habitat. However, in the medium term, The Wilderness Society strongly recommends a complete overhaul of Australia’s national environment laws and the creation of strong and independent institutions to ensure the laws are implemented and environmental outcomes are significantly improved. Key elements of a new approach to the protection of threatened species are outlined in the recommendations section below. 1 Submission Contents Australia's Faunal Extinction Crisis Senate Inquiry Submission: The Wilderness Society 1 Summary 1 Introduction 3 Submission Detail 4 The impact of faunal extinction 4 The ongoing decline of Australia's nearly 500 threatened fauna species 5 International and domestic obligations 6 International obligations 6 Domestic obligations and legislation 7 ‘One-stop shop’ approach 8 Effectiveness of EPBC protections against key threatening processes 9 Deforestation 9 Logging 10 Adequacy and effectiveness of protections for critical habitat under the EPBC 11 Adequacy of data and monitoring 12 Listing process and accuracy of the National Threatened Species List 12 Data and monitoring 13 National Recovery Plans (NRPs) and Conservation Advices 14 Adequacy and extent of the National Reserve System, protected areas and other effective conservation measures 15 Funding 17 Recommendations 18 National leadership and laws 18 National Environment Plans 18 Strong laws to end threats to Australian fauna 18 National Recovery Plans (NRPs) 19 National land and carbon fund to support landholders 19 Data and expertise 20 References 21 Appendix 1: Convention on Biological Diversity : Aichi Biodiversity Targets 2011-2020 24 2 Introduction The Wilderness Society is pleased to provide this submission into Senate Standing Committee on Environment and Communications Inquiry into Australia's Faunal Extinction Crisis. The Wilderness Society is an independent environmental advocacy organisation supported by around 30,000 members and 500 000 supporters. The work we do leverages our strong base to build a mass movement for climate action and nature conservation in Australia. Since 1976, we’ve stood at the forefront of the country’s most historic campaigns, including the Franklin River, Fraser Island, Australia’s Forests, James Price Point in the Kimberley and numerous World Heritage Areas. Today, we’re training a new generation of environmental leaders with a sophisticated community organising program, while building support for effective and lasting change through our communications. Australia’s natural environment and the life it supports is its great advantage. The Wilderness Society exists to protect it. We know that everyday Australians want governments to take action to protect our nature and act on climate change. The Australian Electoral Study from the ANU shows that 47% of voters in 2016 saw the environment and global warming as “extremely important when voting”1. Further social research undertaken by The Wilderness Society and others shows that these Australians share deep concern for the access of future generations to native wildlife. Overwhelmingly, they see Australia’s nature as fundamental to our future prosperity and expect the Federal Government to provide strong leadership on environmental protection. In this submission, the Wilderness Society will make comment on Australia’s faunal extinction crisis in relation to the terms of reference for the inquiry, with specific focus on the terms of reference as set out below: ● the ongoing decline in the population and conservation status of Australia's nearly 500 threatened fauna species; ● the wider ecological impact of faunal extinction; ● the international and domestic obligations of the Commonwealth Government in conserving threatened fauna; ● the adequacy of Commonwealth environment laws, including but not limited to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, in providing sufficient protections for threatened fauna and against key threatening processes; ● the adequacy and effectiveness of protections for critical habitat for threatened fauna under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999; 1 The Longitudinal Australian Electoral Study 3 ● the adequacy of the management and extent of the National Reserve System, stewardship arrangements, covenants and connectivity through wildlife corridors in conserving threatened fauna; ● the adequacy of existing funding streams for implementing threatened species recovery plans and preventing threatened fauna loss in general; ● the adequacy of existing monitoring practices in relation to the threatened fauna assessment and adaptive management responses; ● the adequacy of existing compliance mechanisms for enforcing Commonwealth environment law; and ● other related matters. Submission Detail The impact of faunal extinction Our biodiversity is magnificent, is rightly treasured by Australians and looked to by the rest of the world as unique. Australia is one of the world’s megadiverse countries: we have around 10% of all the world’s species. We have a very high level of endemism compared with other countries. For example, 46% of our birds, 87% of mammals, and 93% of reptiles are only found here2. Australians depend on thriving ecosystems for their well-being and prosperity. Extinction and species population loss reduces overall biodiversity in any ecosystem, reducing the stability of ecosystems and the efficiency by which ecological communities capture and recycle biologically essential nutrients. Emerging research shows that the impacts of diversity loss might be sufficiently large to rival the impacts of other global drivers of environmental change such as climate change - that is, diversity loss may have fundamental impacts on global life systems such as water exchange, nutrient cycling and climate3. Our unique animals and plants have cultural value to Australians of all backgrounds - they form a fundamental part of what makes Australia Australia. In particular Indigenous Australians have strong connections and obligations to biodiversity and all living things, arising from ancient connections to country, passed on through stories and songs over millenia. Preventing the extinction of Australia’s animal species is the right thing to do for a number of reasons: morally, ethically, intergenerationally and practically. And rather than simply protecting species, Australian society must look to something even better – to foster 2 Cresswell D & Murphy H (2017) Australia state of the environment 2016: biodiversity Australian Government Department of the Environment and Energy, Canberra p4; Chapman, A. D. 2009 “Numbers of living species in Australia and the world” Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra, Australia 3 Cardinale et al (2012) “Biodiversity loss and its impact on humanity” Nature 486: 59–67 4 thriving ecosystems where threatened species can begin to thrive again. We must find ways for human activities to co-exist alongside the natural world so that both can flourish and thrive. The ongoing decline of Australia's nearly 500 threatened fauna species Australia has one of the world’s worst records for extinction and protection of animal species. Australia is ranked first in the world for mammal extinctions4, and forth in the world for overall plant and animal extinctions5. Australia’s extinction crisis is not simply historical - Australia is ranked second in the world for ongoing biodiversity loss6. We can see the results of these failures in the ongoing decline of our threatened species: ● Since 2000 Australia's list of nationally threatened species and ecological communities has increased by more than 30%7. ● At least three endemic animals have gone extinct in